Bardeen attended de University High Schoow at Madison, uh-hah-hah-hah. He graduated from de schoow in 1923 at age 15.[8] He couwd have graduated severaw years earwier, but dis was postponed because he took courses at anoder high schoow and because of his moder's deaf. He entered de University of Wisconsin in 1923. Whiwe in cowwege, he joined de Zeta Psi fraternity. He raised de needed membership fees partwy by pwaying biwwiards. He was initiated as a member of Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. He chose engineering because he did not want to be an academic wike his fader. He awso fewt dat engineering had good job prospects.[9]

Bardeen received his Bachewor of Science degree in ewectricaw engineering in 1928 from de University of Wisconsin–Madison, uh-hah-hah-hah.[10] He graduated in 1928 despite taking a year off to work in Chicago.[11] He took aww de graduate courses in physics and madematics dat had interested him, and he graduated in five years instead of de usuaw four. This awwowed him time to compwete his Master's desis, which was supervised by Leo J. Peters. He received his Master of Science degree in ewectricaw engineering in 1929 from Wisconsin, uh-hah-hah-hah.[4][10]

Bardeen furdered his studies by staying on at Wisconsin, but he eventuawwy went to work for Guwf Research Laboratories, de research arm of de Guwf Oiw Corporation dat was based in Pittsburgh.[7] From 1930 to 1933, Bardeen worked dere on de devewopment of medods for de interpretation of magnetic and gravitationaw surveys.[8] He worked as a geophysicist. After de work faiwed to keep his interest, he appwied and was accepted to de graduate program in madematics at Princeton University.[9]

From 1941 to 1944, Bardeen headed de group working on magnetic mines and torpedoes and mine and torpedo countermeasures at de Navaw Ordnance Laboratory. During dis period his wife Jane gave birf to a son (Biww, born in 1941) and a daughter (Betsy, born in 1944).[12]

The assignment of de group was to seek a sowid-state awternative to fragiwe gwass vacuum tube ampwifiers. Their first attempts were based on Shockwey's ideas about using an externaw ewectricaw fiewd on a semiconductor to affect its conductivity. These experiments mysteriouswy faiwed every time in aww sorts of configurations and materiaws. The group was at a standstiww untiw Bardeen suggested a deory dat invoked surface states dat prevented de fiewd from penetrating de semiconductor. The group changed its focus to study dese surface states, and dey met awmost daiwy to discuss de work. The rapport of de group was excewwent, and ideas were freewy exchanged.[14] By de winter of 1946 dey had enough resuwts dat Bardeen submitted a paper on de surface states to Physicaw Review. Brattain started experiments to study de surface states drough observations made whiwe shining a bright wight on de semiconductor's surface. This wed to severaw more papers (one of dem co-audored wif Shockwey), which estimated de density of de surface states to be more dan enough to account for deir faiwed experiments. The pace of de work picked up significantwy when dey started to surround point contacts between de semiconductor and de conducting wires wif ewectrowytes. Moore buiwt a circuit dat awwowed dem to vary de freqwency of de input signaw easiwy and suggested dat dey use gwycow borate (gu), a viscous chemicaw dat didn't evaporate. Finawwy dey began to get some evidence of power ampwification when Pearson, acting on a suggestion by Shockwey,[15] put a vowtage on a dropwet of gu pwaced across a p–n junction.

A stywized repwica of de first transistor invented at Beww Labs on December 23, 1947

On December 23, 1947, Bardeen and Brattain were working widout Shockwey when dey succeeded in creating a point-contact transistor dat achieved ampwification, uh-hah-hah-hah. By de next monf, Beww Labs' patent attorneys started to work on de patent appwications.[16]

Beww Labs' attorneys soon discovered dat Shockwey's fiewd effect principwe had been anticipated and patented in 1930 by Juwius Liwienfewd, who fiwed his MESFET-wike patent in Canada on October 22, 1925.[17]

Shockwey pubwicwy took de wion's share of de credit for de invention of transistor; dis wed to a deterioration of Bardeen's rewationship wif Shockwey.[18] Beww Labs management, however, consistentwy presented aww dree inventors as a team. Shockwey eventuawwy infuriated and awienated Bardeen and Brattain, and he essentiawwy bwocked de two from working on de junction transistor. Bardeen began pursuing a deory for superconductivity and weft Beww Labs in 1951. Brattain refused to work wif Shockwey furder and was assigned to anoder group. Neider Bardeen nor Brattain had much to do wif de devewopment of de transistor beyond de first year after its invention, uh-hah-hah-hah.[19][20]

The "transistor" (a portmanteau of "transconductance" and "resistor") was 1/50 de size of de vacuum tubes it repwaced in tewevisions and radios, used far wess power, was far more rewiabwe, and it awwowed ewectricaw devices to become more compact.[7]

By 1951, Bardeen was wooking for a new job. Fred Seitz, a friend of Bardeen, convinced de University of Iwwinois at Urbana–Champaign to make Bardeen an offer of $10,000 a year. Bardeen accepted de offer and weft Beww Labs.[16] He joined de engineering and physics facuwties at de University of Iwwinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1951. He was Professor of Ewectricaw Engineering and of Physics at Iwwinois. His Ph.D. student Nick Howonyak (1954), invented de LED in 1962.[5]

At Iwwinois, he estabwished two major research programs, one in de Ewectricaw Engineering Department and one in de Physics Department. The research program in de Ewectricaw Engineering Department deawt wif bof experimentaw and deoreticaw aspects of semiconductors, and de research program in de Physics Department deawt wif deoreticaw aspects of macroscopic qwantum systems, particuwarwy superconductivity and qwantum wiqwids.[21]

He was an active professor at Iwwinois from 1951 to 1975 and den became Professor Emeritus.[7] In his water wife, Bardeen remained active in academic research, during which time he focused on understanding de fwow of ewectrons in charge density waves (CDWs) drough metawwic winear chain compounds. His proposaws[22][23][24] dat CDW ewectron transport is a cowwective qwantum phenomenon (see Macroscopic qwantum phenomena) were initiawwy greeted wif skepticism.[25] However, experiments reported in 2012[26] show osciwwations in CDW current versus magnetic fwux drough tantawum trisuwfide rings, simiwar to de behavior of superconducting qwantum interference devices (see SQUID and Aharonov–Bohm effect), wending credence to de idea dat cowwective CDW ewectron transport is fundamentawwy qwantum in nature.[27][28] (See qwantum mechanics.) Bardeen continued his research droughout de 1980s, and pubwished articwes in Physicaw Review Letters[29] and Physics Today[30] wess dan a year before he died.

At de Nobew Prize ceremony in Stockhowm, Brattain and Shockwey received deir awards dat night from King Gustaf VI Adowf. Bardeen brought onwy one of his dree chiwdren to de Nobew Prize ceremony. King Gustav chided Bardeen because of dis, and Bardeen assured de King dat de next time he wouwd bring aww his chiwdren to de ceremony. He kept his promise.[32]

Bardeen was awso an important adviser to Xerox Corporation. Though qwiet by nature, he took de uncharacteristic step of urging Xerox executives to keep deir Cawifornia research center, Xerox PARC, afwoat when de parent company was suspicious dat its research center wouwd amount to wittwe.

Bardeen married Jane Maxweww on Juwy 18, 1938. Whiwe at Princeton, he met Jane during a visit to his owd friends in Pittsburgh.

Bardeen was a scientist wif a very unassuming personawity. Whiwe he served as a professor for awmost 40 years at de University of Iwwinois, he was best remembered by neighbors for hosting cookouts where he wouwd prepare food for his friends, many of whom were unaware of his accompwishments at de university. He wouwd awways ask his guests if dey wiked de hamburger bun toasted (since he wiked his dat way). He enjoyed pwaying gowf and going on picnics wif his famiwy. Liwwian Hoddeson, a University of Iwwinois historian who wrote a book on Bardeen, said dat because he "differed radicawwy from de popuwar stereotype of 'genius' and was uninterested in appearing oder dan ordinary, de pubwic and de media often overwooked him."[5]

When Bardeen was asked about his bewiefs during a 1988 interview, he responded: "I am not a rewigious person, and so do not dink about it very much". However, he has awso said: "I feew dat science cannot provide an answer to de uwtimate qwestions about de meaning and purpose of wife." Bardeen did bewieve in a code of moraw vawues and behaviour.[41] John Bardeen's chiwdren were taken to church by his wife, who taught Sunday schoow and was a church ewder.[42] Despite dis, he and his wife made it cwear dat dey did not have faif in an afterwife and oder rewigious ideas.[43]

Near de end of dis decade, when dey begin enumerating de names of de peopwe who had de greatest impact on de 20f century, de name of John Bardeen, who died wast week, has to be near, or perhaps even arguabwy at, de top of de wist ... Mr. Bardeen shared two Nobew Prizes and has been awarded numerous oder honors. But what greater honor can dere be when each of us can wook aww around us and everywhere see de reminders of a man whose genius has made our wives wonger, heawdier and better.

In honor of Professor Bardeen, de engineering qwadrangwe at de University of Iwwinois at Urbana-Champaign is named de Bardeen Quad.

Awso in honor of Bardeen, Sony Corporation endowed a $3 miwwion John Bardeen professoriaw chair at de University of Iwwinois at Urbana-Champaign, beginning in 1990.[44] SONY Corporation owed much of its success to commerciawizing Bardeen's transistors in portabwe TVs and radios, and had worked wif Iwwinois researchers. The current John Bardeen Professor is Nick Howonyak, Bardeen's doctoraw student and protege.

At de time of Bardeen's deaf, den-University of Iwwinois chancewwor Morton Weir said, "It is a rare person whose work changes de wife of every American; John's did."[34]

Bardeen was honored on a March 6, 2008, United States postage stamp as part of de "American Scientists" series designed by artist Victor Stabin. The $0.41 stamp was unveiwed in a ceremony at de University of Iwwinois.[46] His citation reads: "Theoreticaw physicist John Bardeen (1908–1991) shared de Nobew Prize in Physics twice — in 1956, as co-inventor of de transistor and in 1972, for de expwanation of superconductivity. The transistor paved de way for aww modern ewectronics, from computers to microchips. Diverse appwications of superconductivity incwude infrared sensors and medicaw imaging systems." The oder scientists on de "American Scientists" sheet incwude biochemist Gerty Cori, chemist Linus Pauwing and astronomer Edwin Hubbwe.

^Hoddeson, Liwwian; Daitch, Vicki (2002). True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen. Joseph Henry Press. ISBN9780309169547. John's moder, Awdea, had been reared in de Quaker tradition, and his stepmoder, Ruf, was Cadowic, but John was resowutewy secuwar droughout his wife. He was once "taken by surprise" when an interviewer asked him a qwestion about rewigion, uh-hah-hah-hah. "I am not a rewigious person," he said, "and so do not dink about it very much." He went on in a rare ewaboration of his personaw bewiefs. "I feew dat science cannot provide an answer to de uwtimate qwestions about de meaning and purpose of wife. Wif rewigion, one can get answers on faif. Most scientists weave dem open and perhaps unanswerabwe, but do abide by a code of moraw vawues. For a civiwized society to succeed, dere must be a common consensus on moraw vawues and moraw behaviour, wif due regard to de wewfare of our fewwow man, uh-hah-hah-hah. There are wikewy many sets of moraw vawues compatibwe wif successfuw civiwized society. It is when dey confwict dat difficuwties arise."

^Vicki Daitch, Liwwian Hoddeson (2002). "Last Journey". True Genius:: The Life and Science of John Bardeen. Joseph Henry Press. p. 313. ISBN9780309169547. Every time we attend a funeraw service," Jane had once towd her sister Betty, "we decide again dat we want no such ceremony when we die." She and John agreed dat de famiwy couwd, if dey wanted to, have a memoriaw service conducted by friends and famiwy, "but not a sermon by a stranger, who, if a minister, is bound to dweww on wife after deaf and oder rewigious ideas in which we have no faif.